2023-05-02 19:24:51
Legia Warszawa won the Polish Football Cup for the 20th time in history. In the final at the PGE Narodowy in the capital, playing with ten men for almost the entire match, she defeated Raków Częstochowa, defending the trophy, in penalty kicks 6-5. After 90 minutes and extra time it was 0-0.
Legia Warsaw – Rakow Czestochowa 0:0 after extra time, penalties 6-5.
Yellow cards: Legia – Paweł Wszołek, Josue, Tomas Pekhart, Rafał Augustyniak, Bartosz Kapustka, Kacper Tobiasz, Filip Mladenovic. Crayfish – Zoran Arsenic, Jean Carlos, Vladislavs Gutkovskis, Giannis Papanikolaou.
Red card: Yuri Ribeiro (Legia, 7 – for a foul)
Referee: Piotr Lasyk (Bytom). Viewers 44,701.
Legia Warsaw: Kacper Tobiasz – Artur Jędrzejczyk, Rafał Augustyniak, Yuri Ribeiro – Paweł Wszołek, Bartosz Kapustka (85th Jurgen Celhaka), Josue (106th Makana Baku), Bartosz Slisz, Ernest Muci (43rd Maik Nawrocki), Filip Mladenovic ( 106. Patryk Sokolowski) – Tomas Pekhart (62. Maciej Rosołek).
Raków Częstochowa: Kacper Trelowski – Stratos Svarnas, Tomas Petrasek (45+1. Patryk Kun, 91. Wiktor Długosz), Zoran Arsenic – Fran Tudor, Giannis Papanikolaou, Ben Lederman (68. Bartosz Nowak), Władysław Koczerhin, Ivi Lopez (98 Mateusz Wdowiak), Jean Carlos Silva – Vladislavs Gutkovskis (68. Fabian Piasecki).
The two best teams in Poland this season met at the PGE National Stadium on Tuesday. Raków is probably heading for the first league triumph in the history of the club. Four rounds before the end, Legia is ahead of the second in the table by 11 points, but before winning the championship crown, he appeared in the final of his favorite games in previous years.
The players of coach Marek Papszun triumphed in 2021 and 2022 and these were the first two successes of this club. Legia is the record holder of the competition for the Polish Cup – before Tuesday’s final, it could boast of 19 triumphs, but the previous one – five years ago.
The meeting in Warsaw was hosted by Piotr Lasyk from Bytom, which caused a lot of astonishment in the Raków team.
“I am surprised by the judging panel. Two by far the best teams in Poland are playing, and not the best referee. The decision has already been made. I believe that Mr Lasyk will manage. I hope that there will be no talk of refereeing after this match,” said coach Papszun the day before the final.
The final traditionally had a solemn setting, and the national anthem was played before the match. Present in the stands were Fernando Santos national team coach.
Unlike the final last year, this time the fans could bring large flags, the so-called flags, to the stands. sectors. In 2022, several thousand Lech fans (the Poznań club lost 1:3) did not enter the stands of PGE Narodowy in protest, staying in front of the stadium.
This time the stadium was full (almost 45,000 spectators), although a few hours before the final the media reported some misunderstandings between Legia and PZPN fans. In the end, however, there were no protests.
Both clubs received 10,000 tickets for their fans, sectors behind the goals were prepared for them. At the stadium, however, the vast majority were Legia fans, who also took the so-called neutral sectors.
In the current season of the Ekstraklasa, Raków first defeated Legia 4:0, but in the spring the Warsaw team reciprocated, winning at home 3:1. This heralded the emotions in the PP final.
Already at the beginning of the meeting, however, there was a situation that slightly cooled these forecasts. At the first dangerous action, Yuri Ribeiro fouled the so-called. Fran Tudor’s clean position and referee Lasyk, after consulting VAR, showed the defender of Legia a red card. It was only the seventh minute of the final.
A moment later, Ivi Lopez’s dangerous free-kick was brilliantly saved by Kacper Tobiasz, as was soon followed by Vladislavs Gutkovskis, who was alone in front of Legia’s goalkeeper.
The atmosphere on the pitch and at the benches was tense. Already in the first quarter of an hour, the referee, apart from the red card, showed a lot of yellow cards, also to the coaches of both teams.
The Raków team dominated, but the score remained goalless until the break. Even despite the next convenient opportunities, such as Gutkovskis in the added time of the first half, when in a one-on-one situation he again failed to beat Tobias.
In the second half, the advantage still belonged to the league leader, but Legia skilfully defended itself and did not allow the rivals to create 100% chances.
The team from Częstochowa was unable to threaten “on the ground”, so they tried overhead. However, the strikes of Raków’s players (several headers, especially after the tall Fabian Piasecki entered the field) were, however, inaccurate.
The longer the match lasted, the Legia’s defense became more and more confident, and Raków’s players seemed to lose some air. The Warsaw team was not inferior in terms of condition to the opponents.
In the extra-time, Pashun’s players started attacking harder, realizing that possible penalty kicks were a lottery. In the 96th minute, Bartosz Nowak, shooting from an acute angle, tried to hit the net with a clever shot, but he missed minimally.
In the 114th minute, Władysław Koczerhin showed off a very strong shot from a distance, but Tobiasz was in the lead again.
Therefore, no goals were scored and the final result had to be decided by penalty kicks.
In the series of “elevens” as many as … eleven consecutive attempts were successful. He was wrong only – with the score 6-5 for Legia, Mateusz Wdowiak, whose shot was saved by Tobiasz.
Legia’s goalkeeper was chosen shortly afterwards as the best player of the final.
The prize pool of the Fortuna Cup of Poland was PLN 10 million. Half of this amount will be awarded to the winner. (PAP)
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